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Goal-greedy Pellegrini has history in sight

Jason Burt

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini is driving his team on to new heights. Photo: Getty Images

Manchester City have become a club associated with big numbers: from Abu Dhabi's eye-watering investment, to transfer fees to financial results.

Here is a flurry of other figures: on Sunday, if City score at Newcastle United, they will have scored more times already this season, in all competitions, than the whole of the last campaign. If City continue at this prolific rate they will beat Chelsea's record in a Premier League season - 103 goals - and they will also surpass the tally of 102 achieved by Manuel Pellegrini's Real Madrid in his one remarkable campaign at the Bernabeu.

The City manager offered up the first and last of these remarkable statistics himself on Friday lunchtime, which for a man who professes not to be interested "in the past" was telling.

Records evidently do matter for Pellegrini. So does reputation - and philosophy. He is keeping a reckoning, especially when it comes to scoring goals and proving to Madrid that they were wrong to sack him after that season in charge, in 2009-10.

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That year not only saw Real achieve a century of goals, but also accumulate an extraordinary points total of 96, the highest the club had ever achieved at that time, only to still finish second to Pep Guardiola's Barcelona.

It is why it still hurts Pellegrini that he was sacked by Real. "Well, whatever I think, we did pretty good work there," he said. "We just had an incredible Barcelona team against us at that time and needed to do better."

So much is made of City's Barca links, with their axis of chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain. Pellegrini name-checked the pair as he explained why he had chosen to join City ahead of other clubs who had made him offers last summer.

"It was a very important part of the decision because Manchester City went for me to come here," Pellegrini said. "It was not my agent touting me. I was very happy at Malaga and I always said if I couldn't carry on at Malaga I would study where I can go.

"I had also other options with important clubs in different countries, but the most important reason why I came here was because Manchester City wanted to play the way I wanted."

That attacking, possession-based style of play has been portrayed as a desire to emulate Barcelona. For Pellegrini, it is the galacticos of Real Madrid that he wants to recreate and improve - to show that they were wrong to jettison him so prematurely.

"Yes, very similar," Pellegrini said, when asked if he was adopting the same playing style that he had used in Madrid.

"It was a big shame that I just had one season at Real Madrid. In that season we scored 102 goals in the whole season and 96 points. It was the best record in Real Madrid for that moment [since surpassed by Jose Mourinho with 121 goals and 100 points in 2011-12]."

Pellegrini's one campaign also forced him to integrate pounds 250?million worth of talent - players bought for him rather than by him - at one time: players that included Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema. He had to do so knowing that he was not the first choice as coach. He was always on borrowed time; time he will be afforded at City.

City also spent lavishly on their forward line last summer with Alvaro Negredo, Jesus Navas and Stevan Jovetic, who is still injured, augmenting an attack that already included Sergio Aguero, who should return from injury in midweek, and Edin Dzeko.

A goal at St James' Park on Sunday would be their 93rd in only 33 matches - bettering last season's total of 92, which included the Community Shield, and which was accrued over 52 games.

City have 57 league goals, from 20 matches, at a rate of 2.85 goals a game - Chelsea's record, set under Carlo Ancelotti in 2009-10, of 103 would be beaten by five if Pellegrini's team continue at that rate. "There are lots of ways to play and I chose a creative way," Pellegrini said. "I want to have a good team playing the way that I want."

Indeed, the manager recalled a conversation he had with his players earlier in the season when they lost to away to Cardiff City and then drew at Stoke City. "We are going to play the same way," Pellegrini said. City then lost away to Aston Villa. "We are going to play the same way," the manager repeated.

They lost to Sunderland and Chelsea. The style stayed the same and City have not lost since, having won eight of their last nine league games, only dropping points with the draw at Southampton. In that time they have scored 29 times as their strike-rate has accelerated.

Tellingly, they also sit top of the form table for matches between the top 10 clubs - having collected 22 points from nine matches; four ahead of second-placed Everton.

City's free-scoring football, the improvement of their form and the return of Vincent Kompany to the defence - "I think we are a different team when Kompany plays," Pellegrini conceded - has added to the belief that this campaign cannot only end in silverware but in gaining it in more than one competition.

"It's impossible to know," is Pellegrini's circumspect response. "But I think you have more chances if you continue playing the same way - I think you have chances to do it."

Neither will Pellegrini compromise that attacking, "creative" style - even if the occasion suits. After all, even a purist such as Arsene Wenger turned pragmatic to win a trophy in the way he chose to stifle Manchester United in the 2005 FA Cup final.

"You can change. Of course, you can," Pellegrini said. "Because during that game you might not be doing things well. But you cannot change the style when you have to play an important game. You must tell the players: 'No, we are not going to change' or you work every day and you play a different way.

"I repeat, for me, in my evaluation of what I did in my career is exactly the same even if I have one title more or one title less. But I am absolutely sure I'll be very happy here if I can win a title in England with Manchester City - but not just to win the title, but win how I win it all my teams, play the way I want."

The flipside - especially when it comes to the crunch matches away from home, such as today's trip to St James' Park - could be a vulnerability in defence and City have conceded 23 goals in the league, only 10 fewer than the whole of last season.

Kompany admitted that it is a calculated trade-off for the attacking style.

"The reality is that we have six offensive players starting every game," the City centre-half said. "When you score that many goals and win that many games it is sometimes hard for a defender to make a case that we should be doing this or that in terms of tactics."

Pellegrini said that his aim was "not just attacking football but complete football". It is a bold wish especially with the business end of the season to come.

However, it is one that he might just be on the verge of fulfilling with City. And, in doing so, proving Real wrong.